The Deputy Senate President and Speaker of Economic Community of West African States’ legislature (ECOWAS Parliament), Senator Ike Ekweremadu has described the absence of a real ECOWAS parliament as a huge setback for the commission at 40.
Ekweremadu, who stated this at the closing of 2015 First Ordinary Session of ECOWAS Parliament in Abuja, said “It is sad to note that 40 years after its establishment, ECOWAS cannot boast of a regional parliament in true sense of a parliament.
“It is so disappointing because when we did it with the best of intentions to advance the cause of democracy in the sub-region. Today, ECOWAS Parliament is the only parliament anywhere in the world that doesn’t perform legislative functions. We consider that we come here twice in a year to just talk without achieving anything; without adding value to governance in the sub-region and yet we are paid, so for us, it is not proper.
“If the ECOWAS authorities believe that the ECOWAS Parliament does not need to have powers, of course, it doesn’t need to exist in the first place. You can’t have a parliament that does not perform parliamentary functions. So, we urge the Authority of Heads of States to reconsider their stand and please sign the Supplementary Act so that we can have a functional and productive sub-regional parliament.”
Ekweremadu added that the New Article 13 of the Supplementary Protocol amending the 1994 protocol on the parliament provides for progressive upliftment of ECOWAS parliament from advisory to co-decision making and subsequently a law making body.
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